Block 2. Encoding Ladder for the Product

What an encoding ladder is, how each rung pairs resolution and bitrate, how it lives in HLS and DASH, and why it quietly sets your CDN delivery bill.

Per-title encoding tunes the bitrate ladder to each title, cutting CDN delivery 20–50% at the same quality. The compute-vs-egress math, with a calculator.

Choose codecs for an OTT catalog by reach, efficiency, licensing, and encode cost — why H.264 stays, AV1 leads, and VVC waits. A 2026 product guide.

Match streaming renditions to each device by screen, decoder, and DRM ceiling — why a 4K rung wastes a phone and how to cut the bytes nobody can play.

How CMAF packaging serves HLS and DASH from one mezzanine — one set of segments, two manifests, one encryption — to halve storage and lift CDN caching.

Cloud, on-prem, or GPU transcoding? See the per-minute vs per-machine-hour math, the break-even, and why egress — not encode price — should decide.

How OTT audio, subtitle, caption, and accessibility tracks ride in the ladder — demux audio, choose WebVTT or IMSC, and meet CVAA and WCAG rules.

How OTT encoding QC and the mezzanine workflow keep a broken master out of your catalog: the ingest gate, automated checks, and human review.